Blackout
by hoagie
Summary: A chance run in with the Riddler leads to Selina taking on a new hobby; Teasing Edward Nigma. One shot.


To pull off her next heist Selina needed only to do one thing, knock out the power. The jewelry shop she intended to rob was high end, ran by very wealthy proprietors who could afford the latest in electronic and physical security. Selina was not an electrician by any means but she figured if she could disable the electrical substation closest to the shop it would knock the power out for its security systems. Another plus would be that the area around the shop would be left in darkness which meant it would be easy to approach the shop unseen.

She didn't know how exactly to go about disabling the power station, as far as Selina knew it would be easy as flipping a switch or destroying the place with explosives. Prepared for either eventuality, Selina scaled the chain link fence surrounding the poorly lit substation. Inside the fence she found several large metal structures whose purpose she didn't understand and nothing else. Selina didn't know what she had expected to find but a giant switch that said main power would have been nice. Eventually Selina stumbled across a small metallic box that looked similar to what housed circuit breakers. The box was closed and held shut with a padlock, seeing the small security measure as a sign of the boxes importance, Selina picked the lock, which was childs play for her.

The device she found inside the box however was anything but childs play. Inside the box she found a maze of wires and circuits that just happened to be wired to several bricks of Semtex. Selina would have been curious as to who had planted the explosive device were it not for the green question marks all over it. Not willing to toy with explosives, especially those created by a mind as complex as Nigma's, Selina began to back away from the device until a small red light switched on. The light concerned her and Catwoman stopped in her tracks.

"I wouldn't advise moving any further." Selina heard a male voice call out from her right. Out of the shadows stepped the Riddler complete with green suit, purple mask, hat, cane and a arrogant smile to top it all off.

"That device doesn't like to be tampered with and you just made the motion sensor turn on. If it detects movement…well I'm sure you know what will happen."

Selina was surprised to see Nigma, she hadn't seen anyone when she had first approached the substation and she had never known him to be subtle. Selina would never admit it but it was a blow to her pride to know that anyone had gotten the drop on her.

Having already been humbled somewhat, Selina tried to ignore her feelings of indignation and did what she had to do to survive; ask the Riddler for help.

"So were you going to help me or should I just stand here for the rest of my life?"

Edward Tilted his head his head and brought a hand up to his chin, a look of deep contemplation grew on his face while he began to tap his right foot against the ground rapidly. Selina found it easy to believe that Edward Nigma was a man with many nervous habits.

"Alright, I'll help you Miss Kyle, since that device was never intended to vaporize The Catwoman."

Calmly the Riddler strolled up to Selina and the bomb which caused her too nearly panic.

"Wait, I thought you said this thing was motion activated."

"It is" Said Edward as he stepped in between her and the bomb so that he was facing Selina.

"But my inventions recognize their creator and its safe for you to move around with me next to it. "

Feeling a small desire to get back at Nigma, Selina strutted up to the man in green, putting her within inches of him. Delicately she reached up to stroke his chin for a short time before she lowered her hand to his neck and began to press the tips of her claws into him. There wasn't enough force behind her hand to break the skin, but it wouldn't take much more to slice his throat open.

"I'd thank you Eddie, if it wasn't your fault that I was in danger in the first place."

The arrogant smile he had stepped out of the shadows with returned but the Riddler said nothing, leaving the woman that was threatening his life in an awkward position. Giving up on her plans for the night, Selina gave Edward a hard shove away from her before she turned around and scaled the fence again without effort. As she headed home leaving the substation and Edward behind her, she heard the Riddler call out "Good night Selina." The mockery and condescension in his voice was unmistakable.

The next day Selina woke up in a bad mood. Her plan to rob the jewelry store had fallen through and her odd encounter with the Riddler had left her a little humiliated. It was hard for her to believe that she hadn't seen Nigma before she had hopped the fence around the substation, but he had been there, somehow avoiding her detection. As the embodiment of feline predatory instinct, Selina prided herself on her stealth. Sneakiness is essential to a cat burglar, maybe even more so for Selina who had used stealth to avoid dangerous situations all the time. This made the idea of someone else being as covert as her or the Bat unsettling. The other thing about their run in that had annoyed Selina was that she had been forced to ask for his help. Like her namesake, Selina preferred to work alone and didn't like the idea of asking for someone else's assistance, especially someone like Edward Nigma. She could only imagine how that had added to his overblown ego.

Not content to let Nigma lord anything over her, Selina waited impatiently for the sun to set and for her chance to enact some embarrassing revenge on him. She didn't really know where Eddie would be tonight but she had a hunch and she was going to check it out.

Several hours after the sun had set, Selina sat perched on a rooftop looking down on another substation. As she had expected, the Riddler was inside the fence of the next station in sequence from last nights. This time Selina had caught Nigma while he was still at work and all of his attention was directed at a metal box similar to what she had opened last night. There was a large amount of tools on either side of Edward and more importantly Selina noticed a suppressed pistol lying on the ground to his right. She had never known Eddie to be a killer or at least not directly, so it appeared that whatever he had planned for the power grid of Gotham, he clearly didn't want anyone to find out yet.

Still desiring to embarrass Edward and maybe just make him plead for his life, Selina climbed down from the rooftop and hid in the shadows. Sneaking up on him and turning his pistol against him seemed like as good of an idea as any. With that course of action in mind Selina began to move towards the station noiselessly. Selina was contemplating whether she should scale the fence or just walk through the gate Eddie had left open when something else caught her attention. A stray cat, a Tomcat specifically sauntered in through the open gate of the substation and began to rub itself against Edwards's legs. It was faint but Selina could hear the cat purr in contentment.

Edward looked down at the cat by his feet and spoke in a comical tone that clearly amused himself. "Hello. Miss Kitty"

The cat continued rubbing against Edward eventually turning its back to him and giving Eddie a look at what hung between the stray's legs. "Oh, Mr. Tomcat excuse me"

The stray turned back to face Edward who began to scratch underneath the Tom's chin. "Of course I only know that because you have escaped castration. I've never been proficient at determining your kind's gender; you all look female to me."

Selina looked out from the shadows at the unexpectedly cute scene in front of her. She doubted that Edward would ever admit any deficiency about himself to another person, but evidently it wasn't an issue for him to tell an animal. The thought that she could tease Eddie for what he just did entered Selina's mind, but she dropped it when she realized she was guilty of the same thing. Selina had lost track of the number of times that she had spoken to the strays that lived in her apartment.

Eventually the Tom wandered off leaving Edward to concentrate on his work again. Seeing that he was preoccupied, Selina began to move forward, having decided to just sneak in through the main gate. Edward had his back to the gate and was oblivious to Selina's presence as she snuck up behind him and picked up his pistol. With his weapon in her possession, Selina stood behind Eddie and enjoyed the thrill of being so close to someone without being detected.

"Hi, Eddie"

At the sound of her words the Riddler jumped, startled by Selina before he began to search the ground to his right.

"Looking for this" Selina teased as she turned the weapon on him. An obviously flustered Riddler turned round to find Catwoman standing within a foot of him with his pistol pointed at him.

"Selina" Eddie said in a voice that didn't quite disguise his discomfort.

"This is the second night in row I've ran into you"

Selina noticed that as he spoke the normal Riddler act returned and soon Eddie's normal arrogance was back in full effect.

"Do you have some new found interest Gotham's power grid?"

"I could ask you the same thing" Selina returned, growing bored. The normal Riddler was suddenly very mundane to her compared to the scared Eddie she had seen seconds ago or the surprisingly cute Eddie that spoke to cats.

"I have plans for this city involving the threat of darkness and riddles. You know the same old brilliance from me. What I would like to know is what you're doing at a PowerStation again. It's not hard to imagine that a thief would want to knock the power out in one part of the city for one night but to go after another part of the city two nights in a row that's strange. I might just be flattering myself but I think you came out tonight just for me."

Flashing Edward a false smile, Selina spoke to him. "Your right Eddie, I came out tonight just for you." Seina paused a moment to jab Edwards pistol against his before she started again. "And I just wanted return the favor of sparing my life."

Edwards self assured smirk grew, conveying that he was unimpressed. "You're not going to shoot me Selina"

Seeing that the gun wasn't doing anything for her, Selina tossed the pistol to the ground which made Eddie start to chuckle." See I told you…"

Edwards's words were cut short when Selina hooked her foot behind his leg and pushed him forward causing Eddie to lose his balance. The Riddler began to fall back towards the circuit breaker but Selina grabbed hold of him and spun him round so that he hit the pavement face down. Not giving him the time to get up, Selina put a knee into Eddie's back and pinned him down with her weight. The whole assault had caught The Riddler off guard and it was easy for Selina to grab one of his arms and start to twist it in a direction the human arm was never meant to go.

"I suppose your right Eddie. I'm not going to shoot you, but I might just break your arm, that is unless you ask me not too nicely."

The indignation in his voice was obvious as Edward responded. "Selina, that hardly seems fair, I didn't…" his words were interrupted again when Selina put extra pressure against his arm causing Eddie to grunt in pain.

"You know what I want to hear Eddie" Selina teased.

Catwoman knew that she could be cocky but Nigma was in a different league of arrogance and Selina knew that asking someone else to take pity on him was intensely difficult for Eddie.

"Would you let go of me Selina?"

"What's the magic word Eddie?"

"Would you **please **let go of me Selina?"

Liking the mortified sound of his voice and his choice of words, Selina released his arm but kept her knee on his back. With her desire for revenge satisfied and Edward still pinned underneath her, Selina felt her normal flirtatious personality come back. Selina leaned forward so that she could whisper into his ear."That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

"Actually it was very difficult for me" Eddie answered in a matter of fact tone.

A smile grew on Selina's face before she bit down on Eddie's ear causing him yelp in pain. Satisfied by the playful bite, Selina got up off Nigma and left him behind her in the substation. This time Eddie had nothing to say as she headed home.

Two days later Selina and the rest of the city found out what the Riddler had been up to. Over television and radio Edward announced that he had wired each of Gotham's twenty power districts with explosives. The threat was that he would blow the charges in two hours unless someone answered the riddle he gave to the city and called the phone number he provided. If anyone actually solved the riddle he would spare the district that person lived in.

The deadline came and only two of the twenty districts had solved the riddle which meant that the majority of the city was left in a blackout. The incident gave the Riddler the strange distinction of making it on the FBI's most wanted list without killing anyone and it made Selina's life easier. The next week was the easiest period of thievery she ever had, there were few if any functioning security systems left in the city and the darkness was inescapable. It was a time of plenty for cat burglars and by the time the city got around to repairing the power grid; Selina had already amassed a small fortune in items to fence. If she was smart about it Selina knew that she wouldn't have to worry about money for years and it was all thanks to Edward Nigma's crazy scheme.

Taking a night off, Selina lounged on a couch in her apartment while she admired an obscenely large diamond she had stolen earlier in the week. The windows of her apartment were left open and a cool breeze blew in along with numerous stray cats that came and went as they pleased. A stray sauntered up to the couch before it jumped into Selina's lap seeking attention which she was willing to give. Tossing the diamond aside Selina began to pet the cat which started purring in contentment.

"You look familiar" Said Selina as she remembered that she had seen this particular stray before. A smirk formed on her face as she realized that the tomcat lying in her lap was the same cat that she had seen Eddie pet and speak to. It had been over a week since that night and Selina's recollection of it was positive since she had successfully gotten back at Eddie, though she had to say the sight of Eddie with that cat had left its own pleasant impression. Selina would never admit it but Eddie had been for lack of a better word, cute that night. Suddenly feeling the need to thank Eddie for her week of easy heists, she scooped up the tomcat and stood up.

"Come on lets go visit your friend" Selina said to the cat as she changed into her cat suit and headed off into the night.

While the GCPD had been unsuccessful in tracking the Riddler down, it presented Selina little difficulty as she already knew where Eddie's apartment was. Selina decided to use a window to gain entry to his apartment as she was sure the door was kept secure with an array of locks and booby traps. Edwards's apartment was spacious inside and very well furnished, Selina didn't need to see the lease to know the place was expensive. Setting the stray down and letting it loose inside the apartment, Selina began to search the apartment for Eddie. Moving silently from room to room the search proved fruitless till Selina found the one room with lights on. Peaking inside the room she saw that Eddie was seated at a desk, a smile formed on her face as Edward had his back turned to her which meant she could sneak up on him again. Stalking up to him silently, Selina saw that all his focus was on a crossword puzzle on his desk. Once again Selina savored the rush of getting so close to Eddie without him noticing her. Taking the moment as an opportunity to admire the large leather chair Eddie was seated in; she noted that it was actually a swivel chair.

Rather than just shouting his name and startling him again she thought of something more seductive, something that just felt right for Catwoman. Selina reached out and grabbed the sides of his chair before she spun him round to face her. The surprised look on Eddie's face caused Selina's smirk to grow larger as she climbed into the chair and straddled him. Bringing herself nearly nose to nose with him Selina simply said "Hi, Eddie"

"Selina" Eddie replied nervously as he leaned back to increase the distance between them, not that the chairs backrest allowed him to get very far. Seeing his nervous reaction caused a rush of warmth to run through Selina, there was something about the anxious and befuddled Eddie that she liked. If she ever gave up being a thief, Selina thought that teasing Edward Nigma would be a good replacement pastime.

"So what is it that you want this time Selina?"As it had happened last time Selina noticed that Eddie had had regained his normal pompous attitude rather quickly and that the nervous Eddie was gone all too soon.

"I just wanted to thank you Eddie" Said Selina as she ran her hands over his chest, noticing that he was in better shape than she had given him credit for.

"Thank me for what?"

"For making my life real easy for a week"

"Ah, yes I suppose knocking out the power would make life easy for a thief of you caliber. I have to ask though is being so flirtatious necessary just to thank me?"

"Don't you like this" asked Selina as she knocked his hat off and ran her fingers through his hair.

The self assured smirk returned to Eddie's face as he spoke "I'm not just another man to be turned to putty in your hands Selina. Unlike the rest of my gender I think with the head on my shoulders not with the one between my legs."

Selina couldn't help but chuckle at what he had just said.

"Whatever it is that you want Selina, you can ask me for, but you won't get anything by trying to seduce me."

Suddenly growing very annoyed by Eddie's words Selina spoke in the most threatening voice she could muster. "Eddie, if you don't shut up right now I'll make you"

"Oh and how would you go about that Se…" Edward was cut off as Selina grabbed hold off his suit jacket and pulled him into her while she crushed her lips against his. Almost immediately Eddie's body went stiff, which was the effect she had hoped for. Selina's lips lingered against his for several seconds before she bit into his lower lip and began to pull away from him, stretching his lip towards her. Edward grunted in pain before she released his lip and just stared into his eyes.

"What was it you said about not thinking with the head between your legs Eddie" Selina asked as she felt something hard in his lap press up against her. Just as she had wanted Eddie had nothing to say in response, he simply looked forward at the woman sitting in his lap.

With a smirk on her lips Selina got up from the chair and took hold of one of Eddie's hands. Leading him out of that room she headed for the bedroom she had seen when she had first searched the apartment.

"Where are we going Selina" Eddie asked in a tone that almost sounded childish coming from him.

"Your bedroom" Selina answered coolly.

"Why"

"I realize that it might be hard for you Eddie, but try not to over think why a woman would drag you to bed with her."

"Oh" was all he said in response.

* * *

Did I do the characters justice, probably not, but the Selina/Eddie pairing just doesn't get any love.


End file.
